Day: April 6, 2018
The Various Paths of Witchcraft: Egyptian Witchcraft
Egyptian Witchcraft
Like the witch craft of any other region, the Egyptian witch craft is based upon the country’s tradition, myth, legend, rituals, drama, poetry, song, dance, worship, magic and living in harmony with the earth.
The practitioners of Egyptian witch craft honor the ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses including the Triple goddess of the waxing, full and waning moon and the horned god of the sun, death and animal life.
Since moon has an important place in Egyptian witch craft, therefore both men and women in city apartments, suburban backyards and country glades meet on full moons and on festival occasions to raise their energy levels and harmonize themselves with the natural forces.
Congregations in Egyptian witch craft are called temples and covens where the seekers are initiated into learning the witch craft. The repeated patterns of changing seasons have great importance in the Egyptian witch craft. Ritual and festivals evolved to celebrate these seasonal cycles more especially during the sowing and harvesting seasons.
Egyptian witch craft, therefore, has an image of the ‘Wheel of the Year’ with its eight spokes which symbolize the four agricultural and pastoral festivals and the four solar festivals commemorating seasonal solstices and equinoxes. Like the ancient Pagans and witches, Egyptian witches consider the day as beginning at sundown and ending at sundown the following day.
Egyptian witches hone their divination skills in the increasing starlight and moon light and as winter begins, they work with the positive aspects of the dark tides. Therefore October 31-November eve is the most auspicious period for the Egyptian witches as this, according to them, is the time when the veil that separates our world from the next is the thinnest. This period allows the dead to return to the world of living when their kith and kin welcome and feast them.Egyptian Zodiac Wheel
Egyptian witches perform magic at gatherings called Moon Celebrations or Esbats which coincide with the phases of the moon. Witches practice healing magic, protection, retaliation and channeling of energy to develop themselves spiritually. They create circles to work magic. The primary tool that they use to work magic is a ritual knife called a Sacred Blade or Athame. The sacred blade gets charged with energy of the owner and is used to define space such as drawing a sacred circle where the owner’s will and energy work. A bowl of water is used to symbolize the element of water and its properties: cleansing, regeneration, and emotion.
Other important tools denote the elements earth, air, fire, and water. A pentacle (a pentagram traced upon a disk, like a small dish) is often used to symbolize earth and its properties, stability, material wealth and practical affairs. Alternatively, a small dish of salt or soil can be used to symbolize the earth element.
Scarab and Witchcraft
Witchcraft is based upon personal faith and beliefs, worship of pagan gods and nature. This belief system coincides with the deification of Scarab and its identification with Ra or Atum by Egyptians.
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Egyptian Witchcraft
Just like the witchcraft of other countries, the Egyptian witchcraft has been influenced by the legend, myth, tradition, worship, dance, song, magic, poetry and rituals of its own country. The followers of this witchcraft pay respect to the Egyptian deities that includes gods as well as goddesses. The goddess that is well-known is the Triple goddess and the god that is popular in this culture is the horned god.
As the moon is considered to be an important part of the Egyptian witchcraft, the practitioners of Wicca in this country get together on full moons as well as festive events for the purpose of balancing themselves with the forces of the nature and also for the purpose of improving their energy levels.
The places that people go to worship the deities are in the covens as well as temples and these are the places where the followers of Wicca learn more about witchcraft. The Egyptian witchcraft stresses on the importance of the changes in the seasons and there are many festivals that are connected to the seasonal changes.
Most of the festivals and rituals in the Egyptian witchcraft take place during the harvesting as well as sowing seasons. This kind of witchcraft is said to have a wheel of the year and this wheel has four pastoral and agricultural festivals and the remaining four festivals are celebrated in honor of equinoxes and solstices. Just like the traditional witches and pagans, the Egyptian witches also believe that the day starts at sundown and it ends at sunset of the very next day.
The witches in Egypt improve their divinatory skills in moon light and starlight. They also do this when the winter season begins. It is to be noted that the practitioners of witchcraft work with the dark tides (positive aspects). This is probably the reason why the last day of October and the eve of November is considered to be a favorable period. The witches are also of the opinion that it is during this time that the veil between out world and the other world is the thinnest. It is also during this time that the people who are still living invite their deceased loved ones for feast and the spirits come to the world of the living.
The gatherings where the practitioners of the Egyptian witchcraft carry out magic are known as Esbats or Moon Celebrations. These celebrations takes place during the different phases of the moon and this is the reason why they are known as moon celebrations. During the Esbats, the practitioners perform protection and healing magic and they also channel the energy for the purpose of developing themselves spiritually.
To perform magic, the witches draw circles. Athame or the Sacred Blade is a ritual knife that the witches make use of for the purpose of working on magic and this is also their most important tool. This blade is charged with the energy of the witch to whom the Athame belongs to and then this tool is used for the purpose of creating a circle where the witch will work on her energy and will. The witches also make use of a bowl of water because this represents the element of water and also the properties of water like regeneration, cleansing and emotion. Many a times, the witches make use of a pentagram to represent the earth and the properties of this symbol are material wealth, practical affairs and stability.
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Ancient Egyptian Magic
Magicians
In Egyptian myth, magic (heka) was one of the forces used by the creator to make the world. Through heka, symbolic actions could have practical effects. All deities and people were thought to possess this force in some degree, but there were rules about why and how it could be used.
Priests were the main practitioners of magic in pharaonic Egypt, where they were seen as guardians of a secret knowledge given by the gods to humanity to ‘ward off the blows of fate’. The most respected users of magic were the lector priests, who could read the ancient books of magic kept in temple and palace libraries. In popular stories such men were credited with the power to bring wax animals to life, or roll back the waters of a lake.
By the first millennium BC, their role seems to have been taken over by magicians (hekau). Healing magic was a speciality of the priests who served Sekhmet, the fearsome goddess of plague.
Lower in status were the scorpion-charmers, who used magic to rid an area of poisonous reptiles and insects. Midwives and nurses also included magic among their skills, and wise women might be consulted about which ghost or deity was causing a person trouble.
Amulets were another source of magic power, obtainable from ‘protection-makers’, who could be male or female. None of these uses of magic was disapproved of – either by the state or the priesthood. Only foreigners were regularly accused of using evil magic. It is not until the Roman period that there is much evidence of individual magicians practising harmful magic for financial reward.
Techniques
Dawn was the most propitious time to perform magic, and the magician had to be in a state of ritual purity. This might involve abstaining from sex before the rite, and avoiding contact with people who were deemed to be polluted, such as embalmers or menstruating women. Ideally, the magician would bathe and then dress in new or clean clothes before beginning a spell.
Metal wands representing the snake goddess Great of Magic were carried by some practitioners of magic. Semi-circular ivory wands – decorated with fearsome deities – were used in the second millennium BC. The wands were symbols of the authority of the magician to summon powerful beings, and to make them obey him or her.
Only a small percentage of Egyptians were fully literate, so written magic was the most prestigious kind of all. Private collections of spells were treasured possessions, handed down within families. Protective or healing spells written on papyrus were sometimes folded up and worn on the body.
A spell usually consisted of two parts: the words to be spoken and a description of the actions to be taken. To be effective all the words, especially the secret names of deities, had to be pronounced correctly. The words might be spoken to activate the power of an amulet, a figurine, or a potion. These potions might contain bizarre ingredients such as the blood of a black dog, or the milk of a woman who had born a male child. Music and dance, and gestures such as pointing and stamping, could also form part of a spell.
Protection
Angry deities, jealous ghosts, and foreign demons and sorcerers were thought to cause misfortunes such as illness, accidents, poverty and infertility. Magic provided a defence system against these ills for individuals throughout their lives.
Stamping, shouting, and making a loud noise with rattles, drums and tambourines were all thought to drive hostile forces away from vulnerable women, such as those who were pregnant or about to give birth, and from children – also a group at risk, liable to die from childhood diseases.
Some of the ivory wands may have been used to draw a protective circle around the area where a woman was to give birth, or to nurse her child. The wands were engraved with the dangerous beings invoked by the magician to fight on behalf of the mother and child. They are shown stabbing, strangling or biting evil forces, which are represented by snakes and foreigners.
Supernatural ‘fighters, such as the lion-dwarf Bes and the hippopotamus goddess Taweret, were represented on furniture and household items. Their job was to protect the home, especially at night when the forces of chaos were felt to be at their most powerful.
Bes and Taweret also feature in amuletic jewellery. Egyptians of all classes wore protective amulets, which could take the form of powerful deities or animals, or use royal names and symbols. Other amulets were designed to magically endow the wearer with desirable qualities, such as long life, prosperity and good health.
Healing
Magic was not so much an alternative to medical treatment as a complementary therapy. Surviving medical-magical papyri contain spells for the use of doctors, Sekhmet priests and scorpion-charmers. The spells were often targeted at the supernatural beings that were believed to be the ultimate cause of diseases. Knowing the names of these beings gave the magician power to act against them.
Since demons were thought to be attracted by foul things, attempts were sometimes made to lure them out of the patient’s body with dung; at other times a sweet substance such as honey was used, to repel them. Another technique was for the doctor to draw images of deities on the patient’s skin. The patient then licked these off, to absorb their healing power.
Many spells included speeches, which the doctor or the patient recited in order to identify themselves with characters in Egyptian myth. The doctor may have proclaimed that he was Thoth, the god of magical knowledge who healed the wounded eye of the god Horus. Acting out the myth would ensure that the patient would be cured, like Horus.
Collections of healing and protective spells were sometimes inscribed on statues and stone slabs (stelae) for public use. A statue of King Ramesses III (c.1184-1153 BC), set up in the desert, provided spells to banish snakes and cure snakebites.
Statue of Horus Horus © A type of magical stela known as a cippus always shows the infant god Horus overcoming dangerous animals and reptiles. Some have inscriptions describing how Horus was poisoned by his enemies, and how Isis, his mother, pleaded for her son’s life, until the sun god Ra sent Thoth to cure him. The story ends with the promise that anyone who is suffering will be healed, as Horus was healed. The power in these words and images could be accessed by pouring water over the cippus. The magic water was then drunk by the patient, or used to wash their wound.
Curses
Though magic was mainly used to protect or heal, the Egyptian state also practised destructive magic. The names of foreign enemies and Egyptian traitors were inscribed on clay pots, tablets, or figurines of bound prisoners. These objects were then burned, broken, or buried in cemeteries in the belief that this would weaken or destroy the enemy.
In major temples, priests and priestesses performed a ceremony to curse enemies of the divine order, such as the chaos serpent Apophis – who was eternally at war with the creator sun god. Images of Apophis were drawn on papyrus or modelled in wax, and these images were spat on, trampled, stabbed and burned. Anything that remained was dissolved in buckets of urine. The fiercest gods and goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon were summoned to fight with, and destroy, every part of Apophis, including his soul (ba) and his heka. Human enemies of the kings of Egypt could also be cursed during this ceremony.
This kind of magic was turned against King Ramesses III by a group of priests, courtiers and harem ladies. These conspirators got hold of a book of destructive magic from the royal library, and used it to make potions, written spells and wax figurines with which to harm the king and his bodyguards. Magical figurines were thought to be more effective if they incorporated something from the intended victim, such as hair, nail-clippings or bodily fluids. The treacherous harem ladies would have been able to obtain such substances but the plot seems to have failed. The conspirators were tried for sorcery and condemned to death.
The dead
All Egyptians expected to need heka to preserve their bodies and souls in the afterlife, and curses threatening to send dangerous animals to hunt down tomb-robbers were sometimes inscribed on tomb walls. The mummified body itself was protected by amulets, hidden beneath its wrappings. Collections of funerary spells – such as the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead – were included in elite burials, to provide esoteric magical knowledge.
The dead person’s soul, usually shown as a bird with a human head and arms, made a dangerous journey through the underworld. The soul had to overcome the demons it would encounter by using magic words and gestures. There were even spells to help the deceased when their past life was being assessed by the Forty-Two Judges of the Underworld. Once a dead person was declared innocent they became an akh, a ‘transfigured’ spirit. This gave them akhw power, a superior kind of magic, which could be used on behalf of their living relatives.
Reference
Witchcraft
J. Roslyn Antle, High Priestess, The 7Witches Coven
Dr Geraldine Pinch, BBC History
Books
Amulets of Ancient Egypt by Carol Andrews (British Museum Press, 1994)
‘Witchcraft, Magic and Divination in Ancient Egypt’ by JF Borghouts in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East edited by JM Sasson (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1995)
Magic in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch (British Museum Press/University of Texas Press, 1994)
THe Studay of Pagan Gods & Goddesses: Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Horse Goddess of Wales
In Welsh mythology, Rhiannon is a horse goddess depicted in the Mabinogion. She is similar in many aspects to the Gaulish Epona, and later evolved into a goddess of sovereignty who protected the king from treachery.
Rhiannon in the Mabinogion
Rhiannon was married to Pwyll, the Lord of Dyfed. When Pwyll first saw her, she appeared as a golden goddess upon a magnificent white horse. Rhiannon managed to outrun Pwyll for three days, and then allowed him to catch up, at which point she told him she’d be happy to marry him, because it would keep her from marrying Gwawl, who had tricked her into an engagement.
Rhiannon and Pwyll conspired together to fool Gwawl in return, and thus Pwyll won her as his bride. Most of the conspiring was likely Rhiannon’s, as Pwyll didn’t appear to be the cleverest of men. In the Mabinogion, Rhiannon says of her husband, “Never was there a man who made feebler use of his wits.”
A few years after marrying Pwyll, Rhiannon gave birth to their son, but the infant disappeared one night while under the care of his nursemaids. Frightened that they would be charged for a crime, the nursemaids killed a puppy and smeared its blood on the face of their sleeping queen. When she awoke, Rhiannon was accused of killing and eating her son. As penance, Rhiannon was made to sit outside the castle walls, and tell passersby what she had done. Pwyll, however, stood by her, and many years later the infant was returned to his parents by a lord who had rescued him from a monster and raised him as his own son.
Author Miranda Jane Green draws comparisons to this story and that of the archetypical “wronged wife,” accused of a horrible crime.
Rhiannon and the Horse
The goddess’ name, Rhiannon, derives from a Proto-Celtic root which means “great queen,” and by taking a man as her spouse, she grants him sovereignty as king of the land.
In addition, Rhiannon possesses a set of magical birds, who can soothe the living into a deep slumber, or wake the dead from their eternal sleep.
Her story features prominently in the Fleetwood Mac hit song, although songwriter Stevie Nicks says she didn’t know it at the time. Later, Nicks said she “was struck by the story’s emotional resonance with that of her song: the goddess, or possibly witch, given her ability with spells, was impossible to catch by horse and was also closely identified with birds — especially significant since the song claims she “takes to the sky like a bird in flight,” “rules her life like a fine skylark,” and is ultimately “taken by the wind.”
Primarily, though, Rhiannon is associated with the horse, which appears prominently in much of Welsh and Irish mythology. Many parts of the Celtic world — Gaul in particular — used horses in warfare, and so it is no surprise that these animals turn up in the myths and legends or Ireland and Wales. Scholars have learned that horse racing was a popular sport, especially at fairs and gatherings, and for centuries Ireland has been known as the center of horse breeding and training.
Judith Shaw, at Feminism and Religion, says, “Rhiannon, reminding us of our own divinity, helps us to identify with our sovereign wholeness.
She enables us to cast out the role of victim from our lives forever. Her presence calls us to practice patience and forgiveness. She lights our way to the ability to transcend injustice and maintain compassion for our accusers.”
Symbols and items that are sacred to Rhiannon in modern Pagan practice include horses and horseshoes, the moon, birds, and the wind itself.
An Iowa Pagan named Callista says, “I raise horses, and have worked with them since I was a child. I first encountered Rhiannon when I was a teenager, and I keep an altar to her near my stables. It’s got horsey things on it, like a horseshoe, a horse figurine, and even braids from the manes of horses I’ve lost over the years. I make an offering to her before horse shows, and I invoke her when one of my mares is about to give birth.
She seems to like offerings of sweetgrass and hay, milk, and even music – I sometimes sit by my altar and play my guitar, just singing a prayer to her, and the results are always good. I know she’s watching over me and my horses.”
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Rhiannon
Rhiannon is a major figure in the Mabinogi, the medieval Welsh story collection. She appears mainly in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. She is a strong minded Otherworld woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (west Wales), as her consort, in preference to another man to whom she has already been betrothed. She is intelligent, politically strategic, and famed for her wealth and generosity. With Pwyll she has a son, the hero Pryderi, who later inherits the lordship of Dyfed. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. As a widow she marries Manawydan of the British royal family, and has further adventures involving enchantments.
Like some other figures of British/Welsh literary tradition, Rhiannon may be a reflex of an earlier Celtic deity. Her name appears to derive from the reconstructed Brittonic form *Rīgantonā, a derivative of *rīgan- “queen”. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is strongly associated with horses, and so is her son Pryderi. She is often considered to be related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona. She and her son are often depicted as mare and foal. Like Epona, she sometimes sits on her horse in a calm, static way. While this connection with Epona is generally accepted among scholars of the Mabinogi and Celtic studies, Ronald Hutton, a general historian, is skeptical.
Rhiannon’s story
Y Mabinogi: First Branch
Rhiannon first appears at Gorsedd Arberth an ancestral mound near one of the chief courts of Dyfed. Pwyll, the prince of Dyfed, has accepted the challenge of the mound’s magical tradition to show a marvel or deal out blows. Rhiannon appears to him and his court as the promised marvel. She is a beautiful woman arrayed in gold silk brocade, riding a shining white horse. Pwyll sends his best horsemen after her two days running, but she always remains ahead of them, though her horse never does more than amble. On the third day he finally follows her himself and does no better, until he finally appeals to her to stop for him.
Rhiannon characteristically rebukes him for not considering this course before, then explains she has sought him out to marry him, in preference to her current betrothed, Gwawl ap Clud. Pwyll gladly agrees, but at their wedding feast at her father’s court, an unknown man requests Pwyll grant a request; which he does without asking what it is. The man is Gwawl, and he requests Rhiannon.
Rhiannon rebukes Pwyll a second time for his stupid words, but provides the means and the plan to salvage the situation. She holds a second wedding feast for Gwawl, where she deploys Pwyll’s men outside in the orchard. She instructs Pwyll to enter the hall dressed as a beggar and humbly request Gwawl fill a certain ‘small bag’ with food. But she has enchanted the ‘small bag’ so it cannot ever be filled by normal means. Gwawl is persuaded to step in it to control its magic, which means Pwyll can trap him in it. Pwyll’s men rush in and surround the hall, then beat and kick Gwawl as the Badger-in-the-Bag game. To save his life Gwawl is forced to relinquish Rhiannon completely, and also his revenge. Rhiannon marries Pwyll, then journeys to Dyfed as its queen.
After a happy two years Pwyll comes under pressure from his nobles, to provide an heir. He refuses to set Rhiannon aside as barren, and in the third year their son is born. However, on the night of his birth, the newborn disappears while in the care of Rhiannon’s six sleepy maids. Terrified of being put to death, the women kill a puppy and smear its blood on Rhiannon’s sleeping face. In the morning they accuse her of infanticide and cannibalism. Rhiannon takes counsel with her own advisers, and offers to undergo a penance. Pwyll is again urged to set her aside, but refuses, and sets her penance instead. She must sit every day by the gate of the castle at the horse block, to tell her story to travelers. She must also offer to carry them on her back as a beast of burden, though few accept this. However, as the end of the story shows, Pwyll maintains her state as his queen, as she still sits at his side in the hall at feasting time.
The newborn child is discovered by Teyrnon, the lord of Gwent-Is-Coed (South-Eastern Wales). He is a horse lord whose fine mare foals every May Eve, but the foals go missing each year. He takes the mare into his house and sits vigil with her. After her foal is born he sees a monstrous claw trying to take the newborn foal through the window, so he slashes at the monster with his sword. Rushing outside he finds the monster gone, and a human baby left by the door. He and his wife claim the boy as their own naming him Gwri Wallt Euryn (Gwri of the Golden Hair), for “all the hair on his head was as yellow as gold”. The child grows at a superhuman pace with a great affinity for horses. Teyrnon who once served Pwyll as a courtier, recognises the boy’s resemblance to his father. As an honourable man he returns the boy to the Dyfed royal house.
Reunited with Rhiannon the child is formally named in the traditional way via his mother’s first direct words to him Pryderi a wordplay on “delivered” and “worry”, “care”, or “loss”. In due course Pwyll dies, and Pryderi rules Dyfed, marrying Cigfa of Gloucester, and amalgamating the seven cantrefs of Morgannwg to his kingdom.
Y Mabinogi: Third Branch
Pryderi returns from the disastrous Irish wars as one of the only Seven Survivors. Manawydan is another Survivor, and his good comrade and friend. They perform their duty of burying the dead king of Britain’s head in London (Bran the Blessed) to protect Britain from invasion. But in their long time away, the kingship of Britain has been usurped by Manawydan’s nephew Caswallon.
Manawydan declines to make more war to reclaim his rights. Pryderi recompenses him generously by giving him the use of the land of Dyfed, though he retains the sovereignty. Pryderi also arranges a marriage between the widowed Rhiannon and Manawydan, who take to each other with affection and respect. Pryderi is careful to pay homage for Dyfed to the usurper Caswallon to avert his hostility.
Manawydan now becomes the lead character in the Third Branch, and it is commonly named after him. With Rhiannon, Pryderi and Cigfa, he sits on the Gorsedd Arberth as Pwyll had once done. But this time disaster ensues. Thunder and magical mist descend on the land leaving it empty of all domesticated animals and all humans apart from the four protagonists.
After a period of living by hunting the four travel to borderland regions (now in England) and make a living at skilled crafts. In three different cities they build successful businesses making saddles, shields, then shoes. But vicious competition puts their lives at risk. Rather than fight as Pryderi wishes, Manawydan opts to quietly move on. Returning to Dyfed, Manawydan and Pryderi go hunting and follow a magical white boar, to a newly built tower. Against Manawydan’s advice, Pryderi enters it to fetch his hounds. He is trapped by a beautiful golden bowl. Manawydan returns to Rhiannon who rebukes him sharply for failing to even try to rescue his good friend. But her attempt to rescue her son suffers the same fate as he did. In a “blanket of mist”, Rhiannon, Pryderi and the tower vanish.
Manawydan eventually redeems himself by achieving restitution for Rhiannon, Pryderi, and the land of Dyfed. This involves a quasi-comical set of magical negotiations about a pregnant mouse. The magician Llwyd ap Cilcoed is forced to release both land and family from his enchantments, and never attack Dyfed again. His motive is revealed as vengeance for his friend Gwawl, Rhiannon’s rejected suitor. All ends happily with the family reunited, and Dyfed restored.
Interpretation as a goddess
Rhiannon is often associated with Epona
When Rhiannon first appears she is a mysterious figure arriving as part of the Otherworld tradition of Gorsedd Arberth. Her paradoxical style of riding slowly, yet unreachably, is strange and magical, though the paradox also occurs in mediaeval love poetry as an erotic metaphor. Rhiannon produces her “small bag” which is also a magical paradox for it cannot be filled by any ordinary means. When undergoing her penance, Rhiannon demonstrates the powers of a giantess, or the strength of a horse, by carrying travellers on her back.
Rhiannon is connected to three mystical birds. The Birds of Rhiannon (Adar Rhiannon) appear in the Second Branch, in the Triads of Britain, and in Culhwch ac Olwen. In the latter, the giant Ysbaddaden demands them as part of the bride price of his daughter. They are described as “they that wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.” This possibly suggests Rhiannon is based on an earlier goddess of Celtic polytheism.
W.J. Gruffydd’s book Rhiannon (1953) was an attempt to reconstruct the original story. It is mainly focused on the relationship between the males in the story, and rearranges the story elements too liberally for other scholars’ preference, though his research is otherwise detailed and helpful. Patrick Ford suggests that the Third Branch “preserves the detritus of a myth wherein the Sea God mated with the Horse Goddess.” He suggests “the mythic significance may well have been understood in a general way by an eleventh century audience.” Similar euhemerisms of pre-Christian deities can be found in other medieval Celtic literature, when Christian scribes and redactors reworked older deities as more acceptable giants, heroes or saints. In the Táin Bó Cúailnge, Macha and The Morrígan similarly appear as larger-than-life figures, yet never described as goddesses.
Proinsias Mac Cana’s position is that “[Rhiannon] reincarnates the goddess of sovereignty who, in taking to her a spouse, thereby ordained him legitimate king of the territory which she personified.” Miranda Jane Green draws in the international folklore motif of the calumniated wife, saying “Rhiannon conforms to two archetypes of myth … a gracious, bountiful queen-goddess; and … the ‘wronged wife’, falsely accused of killing her son.”
Modern interpretations
Rhiannon appears in many retellings and performances of the Mabinogi (Mabinogion) today. There is also a vigorous culture of modern fantasy novels.
An example of a modern Rhiannon inspiration is the Fleetwood Mac song “Rhiannon”. Stevie Nicks was inspired to create the song after reading Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural, a novel by Mary Bartlet Leader. There is mention of the Welsh legend in the novel, but the Rhiannon in the novel bears little resemblance to her original Welsh namesake. Nevertheless, despite having little accurate knowledge of the original Rhiannon, Nicks’ song does not conflict with the canon, and quickly became a musical legend.
In artworks, Rhiannon has inspired some entrancing images. A notable example is Alan Lee 1987, and 2001, who illustrated two major translations of the Mabinogi, and his pictures have attracted their own following.
Rhiannon is included in various Celtic neopaganism traditions since the 1970s, with varying degrees of accuracy in respect to the original literary sources.
In the fantasy world of Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, there is a “University of Rhiannon”, where Magic is taught.
Reference
The Witches Divination Journal for Friday, April 6th
The Witches Divination Journal for Friday, April 6th
Tarot Card of the Day
Three of Wands
This suit, most often called “Wands” and sometimes called “Rods” or “Staves,” represents initiative, ambition, drive and desire. This is the suit of enterprise and risk-taking.
A Three in this suit symbolizes an inner balance that allows you to feel more optimistic about new endeavors you are committed to, or want to commit to. In the illustrated Tarots, the human character is standing on his balcony, watching ships leave the harbor, loaded with his goods for far-off ports, dreaming of the fortune he will reap if all goes well. Summon the optimism within you.
This energy must be patient and trusting, because he or she will have to wait some time to find out how the ships have fared. Meanwhile, a lot of resources are tied up until they return with the bounty. Only those truly confident in their ideas and abilities would undertake such a risk. This card represents the energy a person needs to take on great adventures and accomplish noble (and remunerative) deeds.
A detail that sometimes appears in the more esoteric Tarots is a winged wand with two snakes twining around it, called the Caduceus, which is Mercury’s wand. This is an ancient symbol of the healer or shaman, one who can travel between the worlds to rescue souls from death or possession. Perhaps the feeling of empowerment this card represents points to the internal mechanisms of self-healing. Perhaps it refers to the courage it takes to be an entrepreneur or an inventor, which is in itself a magical process — bringing not only opportunity for success, but also an awakening to higher potentials.
Tarot.com is Part of the Daily Insight Group ©2018
Love Tarot Card of the Day
The Wheel of Fortune
Today, the truth is told and clears up a situation that has hung on and on. Take direct action now to clear up something that should have been handled long ago. The Wheel of Fortune selected you because you need to know that some parts of the conditions were out of your control. Some events are not the result of something you did. You do have control over how you deal with matters now.
Erotic Tarot Card of the Day
The Chariot
The Chariot shows that you’re rolling toward a major sexual goal today, willing to forego just about anything and everything else to have that one big O! The thing is, who are you willing to trample over to get there? This card can be a sign to slow down just a bit, because while sex is fun, it shouldn’t be your number one focus right now. You don’t have to come to a complete stop, but pulling back on the reins just a bit will give you the clarity you need to make sure you’re making wise sexual decisions.
Your Influences for the Weekend of
Element Influence
Earth Reversed
Earth reversed denotes a lack of positive connection with the life spirit–a lost soul. If you are not careful you may miss much of what life has to offer you
Astrological Influence
Pisces Reversed
Pisces reversed signifies a lack of positive thinking and creativity at this time
Element Influence
Earth Reversed
Earth reversed denotes a lack of positive connection with the life spirit–a lost soul. If you are not careful you may miss much of what life has to offer you
Psychic Tip of the Day
TAKE IT AS REAL
Saying and doing are often two different things, but today they are welded together. A lover’s confirmation of something is a real as it gets. Do you really want to know?
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Your Daily Rune for
Nauthiz
“Not-this” – Literally: “Need-fire” or “Necessity” – Esoteric: Constraint, Friction
Key Concepts: Need, resistance, constraint, conflict, drama, effort, necessity, urgency, hard work, need-fire, life lessons, creative friction, distress, force of growth, the consequence of past action, short term pain for long term gain
Psi: resistance, need, effort
Energy: necessity, coming forth into being, urgency
Mundane: doing what must be done, chores, hard work
Divinations: Resistance (leading to strength), recognition of örlög (ultimate law, primal truth), innovation, need-fire (self-reliance), personal development and life lessons, achievement through effort; or constraint of freedom, distress, toil, drudgery, laxity, warnings, worry, guilt, moral cowardice, unfulfilled or unrecognized needs.
Your Animal Spirit for Today
Crack the Cookie
The Wisdom of Buddha
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
A Little Humor for Your Day
Snipe Sorcery
Invocation of Baboo
In the great tradition of `Wombat Wicca’ and Witchduck, we present the following as the second in a series of “Ceremonials” Asst. Ed.
As promised, in this edition of Snipe Sorcery, we present the two major invokations used in the Snipe rituals…
Invokation to Baboo
O beautiful, bright Baboo, the banshee ballerina, the baroque bawd, the bedazzling, buxom bombshell, we pray to thee, our bumptious bulwark of burlesque, and beg you to bless our bacchanal with the bonbon of your bright presence.
Light our lewd labors with the lascivious laughter of your leering legacy. Endorse each word of our earnest entertainment for the enlightenment of the entranced masses, huddled in the darkness of their prudery and inhibitions.
Grant us the power to dispell the gloom of puritan despondency which looms over their eternal labors and help them take their heavy load and shove it. So Mote it Be
Invokation to Bacchus
Rah! Rah! Rah! Sis Boom Bah! If we can’t have Bacchus, we’ll have no god at all!
Gimme a “P” Gimme an “A” Gimme an “R” Gimme a “T” Gimme a “Y”
What’s that spell? What’s that spell? What’s that spell?
Repeat as necessary.
This article is excerpted from the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal. Each issue of the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal is published by High Plains Arts and Sciences; P.O. Box 620604, Littleton Co., 80123, a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation, under a Public Domain Copyright, which entitles any person or group of persons to reproduce, in any form whatsoever, any material contained therein without restriction, so long as articles are not condensed or abbreviated in any fashion, and credit is given the original author.!
Born on a Friday
If You Were Born Today, April 6
If You Were Born Today, April 6
You are security-minded overall yet do act on impulse from time to time. Your friends are especially important to you, and you will go out on a limb for someone you care about. You are a great worker with a good eye for detail. Good at leading, you do enjoy being in control! You are a passionate and strong person with a big heart. Famous people born today: Lowell Thomas, Merle Haggard, Marilu Henner, Paul Stephen Rudd, Eliza Coupe.
Your Birthday Year Forecast:
With the Sun and Moon in harmony in your Solar Return chart, the year ahead should be satisfying and balanced overall. You are in comfortable demand and personally popular, and you are able to achieve a decent balance between work and play; personal and professional life. For the most part, you are on top of your game this year, and positive connections with others can be made fairly easily. With the ability to handle your emotions successfully, there is less stress on both your mind and body. Your self-confidence and positive attitude will reward you!
Personal magnetism is tremendous this year. You are playfully competitive and might win a major competition, if applicable. This is a good period for creative projects and joining with others in pursuing a common goal.
Certain elements of your social life and financial life are stabilized, secured, and more reliable this year. You may solidify a romantic relationship or become involved with a mature partner. Circumstances may be such that you need to handle money more carefully this year, or this may simply come naturally to you now. Support from older people or authority figures may come by way of solid advice or more tangible help. Renewed ties to old friends are possible, or a new sense of responsibility in existing friendships, are also highly likely.
Saturn transits square to your Sun from February 2019 forward and this can encourage you to straighten out neglected areas of your life. You’ll be working hard at disciplining yourself. You are likely to have new or increased responsibilities, and it might take some time to get adjusted to them. The need to re-structure and re-organize your life will be apparent at some point during this period. Much can be accomplished. Although you may not always see immediate results for your efforts, important groundwork can be laid for the future.
The year ahead can be an ambitious time and a supportive period for reaching your goals. You might solve a long-standing problem, or capitalize upon a resource that was previously hidden.
This is an excellent year in which to advance projects revolving around communications – writing, speaking, selling, and so forth. Your reputation may be enhanced through word of mouth. Making new contacts through learning and mental pursuits figures strongly as well.
With Mars conjunct Saturn in your Solar Return chart, you are more determined and hard-working than usual. This is an excellent time to get organized and to stick with projects through to the end. When you face obstacles to your goals, which is a likely scenario this year, you are likely to just keep on pushing. Progress may be slow, but it’s steady and solid. What you accomplish now will benefit you for years to come. You may be called to task for a responsibility that you’ve avoided in the past.
Jupiter forms a trine to your Sun from January 2019 forward, and you have a stronger than usual desire to improve, grow, and learn. This is a fortunate aspect that helps boost optimism and confidence, and you are able to attract fortunate circumstances into your life as a result. Problems are easier to resolve. Matters related to universities, higher education, religion, publishing, legal affairs, and/or foreign interests can be especially strong. It’s an excellent time to further your education. You are likely to enjoy a larger perspective on matters that keeps you from getting lost in details or overly frustrated by everyday stresses during the course of the month.
This is a year for solving problems and getting your life in order in significant ways. You receive plenty of cosmic support for making big improvements or lifestyle changes, although hard work is necessary. This can be a wonderful time for meeting new people or more thoroughly enjoying your current friendships.
2018 is a Number Three year for you. Ruled by Jupiter. This is a year of sociability. It is a friendly time when you find it natural and easy to enjoy life and other people. The focus is on personal freedom, reaching out to others, making new friends, and exploration. You are more enthusiastic and ready for adventure than you are in other years. It’s likely to be a rather lighthearted year when opportunities for “play” time are greater than usual. It’s also a favorable year for expressing your creativity. Advice – reach out and connect but avoid scattering your energies.
2019 will be a Number Four year for you. Ruled by Uranus. This is a year of work and development. It’s “nose to the grindstone” time. It’s a time to pay special attention to practical matters, and it’s not a time to be lazy or especially gregarious. Sometimes, it can be a year that feels hard, monotonous and routine, and/or lonely. Positive new relationships are often not formed in a Four personal year. However, it can be a wonderful year for building, development, and laying a solid foundation for future successes. Advice – get yourself organized, work to build your resources, keep busy.
This Weekend’s Love Horoscope for April 6 – 8: A Love that Lasts
This Weekend’s Love Horoscope: A Love that Lasts
Love horoscopes for the weekend of April 6-8
After a rough week in love, things start to smooth out this weekend…
Earlier in the week, Mars and Saturn met up in the cosmos, which could have caused a good deal of frustration in your love life or long-term relationship. Normally you’d be able to talk through any setbacks, but retrograde Mercury’s tense aspects to both Mars and Saturn put the kibosh on any productive communication. Harsh words and angry feelings were probably thrown around instead, driving a temporary wedge into your happiness.
Thankfully, this weekend brings a bit of reprieve, and gifts you with the stable love energy you’ve needed to get beyond the problems of the week and shift your sights forward. On Saturday the love planet Venus makes a nice aspect to Saturn, helping you and your partner look at things with a more realistic mindset and a greater desire to build something lasting together. Instead of letting your emotions rise and come between you, you have the ability to keep things calm and focus on what’s best for your relationship. If you’re single or newly dating, this steady energy helps get things off on the right foot with a potential lover, and provides the staying power needed to turn a first date into a second or third, or even a committed relationship.
What’s more, the Moon will be in Capricorn all weekend. While this isn’t the most lovey-dovey place for the emotional Moon to be, it totally supports this consistency and practicality that Venus and Saturn are already delivering. The sincere and secure feelings you have this weekend can help you build a stronger relationship that can overcome future obstacles and bring you the comfort of a lasting, stable partnership.
Tarot.com is Part of the Daily Insight Group ©2018
Before We Get Started, I would like to apologize for the other day….
I wanted to apologize for Wednesday. I think I over did it on the donations or purchases from Magickal Necessities. I know that was one of tricks Mystie always used and perhaps she was channeling through me. Since she know how much everything we have means to me. You know the situation we are in and right now we are not going to meet our tax bill. Lord M and Lynette have went to gather boxes so we can pack up the office when time comes closer. You will not see a countdown or my throwing myself on the mercy of the world today, except now. That’s it!
If you would like to make a purchase, we would appreciate it. Our inventory is starting to run low, so if you need something you better grab it now.
Magickal Necessities
Or
If you would like to make a donation, which would also be greatly appreciated, the link is below
We have been in this business for over 18 years. I hate to go out like this but if it comes to that, then so be. Can’t say we didn’t try. Now on to work,
Love ya,
Lady A
TGIF! Thank the Goddess It is Finally Friday! Wishing All Our Dear Friends A Very Blessed Day & Relaxing Weekend!
Witches Of The Craft® 
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